States Develop Strategies To Decrease Moose Collisions

11/25/10 5:50PM
Shannon Mullen

(Host) In recent years, moose
populations have been growing in New York and New
England.

And although some
residents are delighted to see them, as their numbers increase these large
animals pose a growing danger to drivers.

So states farther
north have launched educational programs to try to reduce moose collisions.

As
part of a collaboration with Northeast stations, Shannon Mullen reports, New Hampshire may have something to teach the rest of the region.

(Mullen) It started in
northern New England twenty years ago...

Moose returned because
the hardwood forests they depend on had grown back after farmers clear-cut them
in the 1800s. Now the moose have come
back to states farther south, too, but in small enough numbers that they're
still a novelty.

Skip O'Rell lives on a
farm in Granville, Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border.

(Mullen) Moose can
grow to over seven feet, and weigh up to 1,400 pounds. Biologists believe their numbers are growing
in the lower part of the northeast. For
instance, in Massachusetts the moose population has swelled from fifty to around
one thousand in the past ten years, and last year there were thirty moose
vehicle collisions in the state.

(Unaitis) "If it's dead we'll throw a strap right
around the neck and winch it up that way. If it's alive, we'll throw the moose
in the cargo net."

(Mullen) Unaitis tells
people that moose are the most dangerous wild animal in the Massachusetts, but he says drivers are clueless about the growing
collision risk.

(Unaitis) "People aren't even aware of it, or don't
even think about it. I think we, now, are where New
Hampshire and Vermont were fifteen
years ago."

(Mullen) Back then the
moose population in the North
Country increased sharply
and New Hampshire lifted a ban on moose hunting. Even so, there was an increase in moose
collisions and by 1990 there were 170 per year.

Physician Campbell
McClaren works in the emergency room at Littleton Hospital in New Hampshire's White
Mountains.

(McClaren) "More often than not the injuries
surprisingly were relatively minor, but then in my area here I began to see
deaths, human deaths."

(Mullen) One night
about ten years ago some tourists - a woman and her daughter - hit a moose on
the interstate, and when the woman came to, McClaren had to tell her that her
daughter had died.

(McClaren) "She was so deeply, deeply grieved by her
daughter's loss, that I felt that to stand by and just carry on, be
professional, wait for the next one was not appropriate. We needed to do something."

(Mullen) He started by
helping form a moose committee that included fish and game, and transportation
officials. New Hampshire's first
responders began identifying exactly where moose collisions occurred. Then the state posted warning signs with flashing
lights during spring, and the fall breeding season.

Last year New
Hampshire followed an earlier effort in Maine, and made a video about moose
hazards. Now it's part of the curriculum
at every driving school, and it's played at highway rest stops.

The video features
wildlife biologist Kris Rines from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department,
who warns drivers to keep their speed below 55 miles per hour, use
their high-beams whenever possible, and constantly scan the road ahead.

Rines says educating
drivers about moose behavior is a never-ending job, and even then, moose are
unpredictable.

(Rines) "We
have people that call us and say, I never expected it to dart out in front of
my car. I know it saw me and it still
ran into the road."

(Mullen) Rines says
it's impossible to eliminate collisions - the most recent count in New Hampshire was 183 two years ago. But all of New Hampshire's efforts have paid
off with a 31 percent decrease in collisions since 2004.

Farther south, the
states don't have major outreach efforts about moose. According to Connecticut state wildlife
biologist Howard Kilpatrick collisions there have been sporadic until the past
few years.

(Kilpatrick) "We're getting reports every year of
moose vehicle accidents. Two accidents a year is not a crisis. The question is where will we be ten years or
twenty years down the road."

That depends on how
big the moose populations get, and how humans respond. But no matter what people do, these huge,
wild animals are here to stay, in the woods, and sometimes on the roads.

For VPR News, I'm
Shannon Mullen.

(Host Outro) Northeast environmental reporting is made possible, in
part, by a grant from United Technologies.

Moose populations in the Northeast

Connecticut 100 moose, on average 2 moose vehicle accidents per
year
Maine 29,000 moose, on average 600-700 collisions per year
Massachusetts 1000 moose, 30 moose vehicle collisions in 2009
New Hampshire 6,000 moose, on average 230 collisions per year
New York 500-850 moose, 10 collisions reported in 2009
Rhode Island -- occasional unconfirmed sightings
Vermont 3500 moose, 150-200 moose-vehicle collisions per year